Device for locating and raising sunken vessels.



G. MCKENZIE.

DEVICE FOR LOGATING AND RAISING SUNKBN VESSELS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 22, 1913.

1,12,231, Patented Jan.5,1915.

t im/mron a- Gaa ye fif -ffalizie enone'n MCKENZIE, or EVERETT, WASHINGTON.

DEVICE FOR .LOCATING AND RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

Application filed May 22,1913. Serial No. 769,158.

v To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE MCKENZIE,

citizen of the United States, residing at Everett. in the county of Snohomish and State of Washington, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Devices for Locating and Raising Sunken Vessels, of which the following is a specifica connection between each buoy and the vessel by which small cable, a larger cable-may be drawn downwardly and associated'with the vessel for the purpose of raising it. I' attain this object by devices illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view in side elevation of an. embodiment of my invention as it normally appears when associated with a vessel, the dotted'lines showing positions of parts when a vessel is sunk, Fig. 2, is a view partly in vertiiial-section and partly in side elevation of a detail of my invention, Fig. 3. is a view partly-in vertical-section and partly in side elevation of the cable drum and pulley mechanism, Fig. 4, 1s' an enlar ed view on the broken line m, a: of Fig. and Fig. 5 is a sectional detail view of the cable winding-drum.

Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the drawings. Referring to Fig. 1, of the drawings, 6 is a vessel with which are associated two buoys 7, 7 each supported within an inverted bell shaped support 8 provided on the upper deck of the vessel, the buoys 7, 7 may be of any suitable form. and'of light construction and each is provided on its top with a flag 9 by which it mav be easily located when floating on the surface of the water.

The inverted bell shaped supports 8 are each provided with two conduit pipes 10 and 11 which extend downwardly from the bottom side of the support 8 and communicate withthe top side of a casing 12 disposed in the bottom of the vessel 6. A

winding-drum 13 is rotatably mounted in a bracket 14 disposed within the casing 12 and secured to the bottom thereof, and two pulleys 15 and 16 are rotatably mounted in a bracket 17 which is securely bolted to the keelson 18 of the vessel 6 by bolts 19 and is disposed within the casing 12 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The winding-drum 13, is preferably provided with a friction device (not shown) which may be so adjusted that the drum 13 will offer a. moderate resistance to being rotated thus preventing it from unwinding too rapidly and tangling a cable 20 that is normally wound thereon. The

drum 13 is further provided with a rounded lug 21, on its outside surface, as illustrated in Fig. 5, over which a bight of the cable 20 may be hooked to prevent said cable from slipping when it is being wound on the drum and which is so shaped as to slip free the cable from the drumafter the last coil of the cable has been unwound.

The cable 20 is preferably a very long cable of high tensile strength and the bight which is hooked over the lug 21 is formed at a point midway of its length. The entire cabl, excepting a few feet of its ends 22, 22 is then wound about the drum 13, one of the ends 22 is passed under the small roller 16,

thence upwardly past the large roller 15' through the conduit pipe 11 and then fixedly secured in a hole 23 in the bottom portion of the buoy 6, while the other end 22 is passed under the small roller 16, under the large roller 15 and thence upwardly through the conduit pipe 10 and securely fastened in a hole 24 adjacent the hole 23 in the bottom portion of the buoy 6 in such manner that when the cable 20 is completely unwound from the drum 13 by pulling the ends 22 upwardly through the conduit pipes 10 and 11 in response to the sinking of the vessel 6 the bight of the cable 20 will encircle the large roller 15. the winding-drum 13 may be so constructed and mounted that there shall be no possibility of the cable 20' becoming caught or displaced therein and care should be taken that the conduit pipes 10 and 11 and the buoy supports 8 offer no obstructions to the free passage of the cables therethrough.

The operation of my device is very simple, the cable 20, being wound about the drum 13 and having its ends 21 passed The pulleys 15 and 16 and.

and secured'in the holes 23 and 24 in the bottom of the buoys 7, the device is read for use. When the vessel sinks the buoy is sustained on the surface of the water above the vessel, the cable 20 unwinding as the distance between the buoy and the sinking vessel increases, said cable 20 being of sufficient length to allow for amaximum depth of sinkage of the vessel. The sunken vessel 6 may be located by the buoys 7 that float above it and when preparations have been made forraising said vessel 6 one of the ends '22 of each of the small cables 20 may be detached from its buoy 7 and attached to'the end of a lar er cable and the other end 22 of each of suc small cables 20 may be drawn upwardly to draw the larger cable downwardly through and around the pulley 15. When the small cables 20 connecting with each of the buoys 7, 7 have been replaced by larger cables to raise a vessel tension may be exerted on said larger cables to raise the vessel to the surface of the water since the cables by passing downwardly through the conduit pipes 10 and 11 tend to right the vessel and keep ,it in its upri ght position.

Obviously, any desired number of buoys and cables may be arranged in any convenient manner in connection with a vessel, and numerous changes in the device herein illustrated may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of my invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

What I claim is:

1. In a device for locating and raising sunken vessels, the combination with a vessel, of a buoy, a support adapted to support said buoy on said vessel, a receptacle disposed in the bottom of said vessel, conduit pipes communicating between said buoy support and said receptacle, a winding-drum rotatably mounted within said receptacle, a bracket fixedly secured to the frame of said vessel and disposed to project within said receptacle adjacent to said'winding, drum, a large pulley and a smaller pulley each rotatably mounted in said bracket, a cable doubled mid-way of its length and wound about said winding-drum, one of the ends of said cable being disposed to pass under said smaller pulley thence upwardly each of said buoy supports and a-difi'erent one of said rece tacles, a winding-drum rotatably mounte within each of said receptacles, pulleys disposed within 'each of said receptacles in the same plane with each other and adjacent to the'winding-drum therein, said pulleys being rotatably secured to'the frame of said vessel, and a cable associated with each of said receptacles and one of said buoys and dis osed to form a bight between its ends an to have such bight portion wound on the winding-drum of said receptacle while its two end portions extend one on each of opposite sides of one of said pulleys and thence through said pipes to be secured to said buoy in such manner that said cable when unwound shall extend from said buoy downwardly through one of said pipes thence around said pulley and back to said buoy through the other of. said pipes.

3. In a device for locating and raising sunken vessel's, a winding-drum mounted to revolve in suitable bearings, a pulley mounted to revolve freely on bearings provided in a bracket that is secured to a frame member of a vessel, a cable having a bight portion of its length wound on said winding-drum, the two end portions of said cable extending from said drum and means for guiding each in a manner to adapt said cable to engage with said pulley when said cable isunwound from said drum and means for guiding each of said end portions of said cable'from said drum to a different side of said pulley.

In witness whereof, I, hereunto subscribe my name this 28th day of April A. D., 1913.

GEORGE MoKENZIE.

Witnesses:

FRANK WARREN, A. HASKINS. v 

